National Catholic Reporter

Bishop's Novel Reprises Classic Sci-Fi Themes

Reviewed by Dennis Coday

Gary K. Wolf, the Hugo award-winning creator of Roger Rabbit, and John J. Myers, the Catholic archbishop of Newark , N.J. , were childhood friends in Earlville , Ill. In seventh grade, they discovered the 1951 adventure saga Space Hawk, and the world of science fiction was opened to them. Gary K. Wolf became an award-winning sci-fi writer, John J. Myers an archbishop. They stayed in touch, sharing their continuing love of science fiction.

For years, they discussed writing a book together that would recreate what they remembered as the best of Space Hawk. Space Vulture is the result of those efforts, and it fits well with the types of stories, novels and comics published during what some call the “golden age of science fiction.” With its humanoid zombies, fantastic technologies and undaunted heroes rushing headlong to save the galaxy, Space Vulture could have been serialized in such sci-fi magazines of the 1950s as Fantastic Adventures, Planet Stories, Beyond or Incredible Science Fiction.

But don’t take my word for it. I had my seventh-grade son look at Space Vulture. He read it with relish. From the next room, I would hear him chuckle and exclaim “Awesome!” Later, he would read me passages that he particularly liked, usually something about spaceships with hyper drives or rays that could put a planet’s entire population to sleep. I don’t think you can get a better endorsement than that….

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